Choose Your Own "Choose Your Own Adventure Thread" Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > Choose Your Own "Choose Your Own Adventure Thread" Thread

«‹›12 »

Josef bugman: Nov 17, 2011; Pictured: Poster prepares to celebrate Holy Communion (probablY)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

I'd love to run a Glorantha game or CYOA, but I am not really the best at organising this sort of thing.

Though I'd also love it if it was set in Railos and we could go full Arkat worshiping shaman wizard. Or really blow minds and just go Lunar.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 23:42

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 16, 2024 10:51

Ceramic Shot: Dec 21, 2006; The stars aren't in the right places.

How do people feel about main character dialogue in CYOA games? I think I've noticed there's a big difference between how the current crop of CYOA writers handle it. I think they're equally valid but accomplish different ends. In the Paradise Lost and Viking games for example, there tended to be relatively little main character speech in the main posts, whereas in Talos and some of the 40k ones there's a bit more banter and less micro-management of what's said. Mutants: Uprising seems to sway between narrative updates and dialogue updates.

I feel like having less main character dialogue is more "immersive" because "what's actually being said" is sort of handled off-screen via player write-in questions and such. They also seem to be more strongly second-person (more "you"). And I guess in the more dialogue-heavy games it feels a bit more fast-paced. I'm wondering what else people think about those approaches.

Also, I've been planning the start of a late antiquity fantasy thing if I ever get the time. Resource recommendations appreciated.

# ? Apr 6, 2016 08:45

Loel: Jun 4, 2012; "For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.

Ceramic Shot posted:

How do people feel about main character dialogue in CYOA games? I think I've noticed there's a big difference between how the current crop of CYOA writers handle it. I think they're equally valid but accomplish different ends. In the Paradise Lost and Viking games for example, there tended to be relatively little main character speech in the main posts, whereas in Talos and some of the 40k ones there's a bit more banter and less micro-management of what's said. Mutants: Uprising seems to sway between narrative updates and dialogue updates.

I feel like having less main character dialogue is more "immersive" because "what's actually being said" is sort of handled off-screen via player write-in questions and such. They also seem to be more strongly second-person (more "you"). And I guess in the more dialogue-heavy games it feels a bit more fast-paced. I'm wondering what else people think about those approaches.

Also, I've been planning the start of a late antiquity fantasy thing if I ever get the time. Resource recommendations appreciated.

Ask/Tell has some really good stuff on antiquity

I read their threads a lot.

When I started I used very little dialogue, because I was uncomfortable with the style. One-two lines per post, or maybe a monologue. I've gotten more into it since then

# ? Apr 6, 2016 09:18

hollylolly: Jun 5, 2009; Do you like superheroes? Check out my CYOA Mutants: Uprising

How about weird historical fiction? Try Vampires of the Caribbean

Regarding dialogue or no dialogue, I think it just comes down to whatever your writing style is and how you want to convey what's going on. PL and Enoch take place over years of game time. Updates can cover a day or months of time, so throwing in a lot of one on one conversations doesn't fit the story style.

Mutants: Uprising takes place more immediately, with updates covering small chunks of time. Also I feel weird writing "you talked to so-and-so about something" rather than just writing a couple lines of dialogue and getting to show of that other character's personality as well. It's not always necessary, so I try not to clutter the story up with a ton of conversations that could be skipped over, but if we've gone somewhere to talk to someone then we're going to see that dialogue. :shrug:

# ? Apr 6, 2016 09:33

Dog Kisser: Mar 30, 2005; But People have fears that beasts do not. Questions, too.

I guess I ought to post here too! Already have a bunch of people playing, but the more the merrier!

Game: The Fragile Gods of Somewhere
System: Wingin' it! My last game, Sundown Run, tried to go more rules heavy and I didn't dig it
Format: CYOA / Godgame Hybrid
Players: 5 Gods BUT other readers can pool together to influence their rolls for good or ill, so we need all sorts of people!
Description:
The world is a mutable, malleable thing. In the immeasurable vastness of the Ocean, tiny pinpricks of Something burst into being, only to vanish. Without a stabilizing presence, they are hopeless against the crashing waves of Nothing. Without Gods, Something has no hope.

Gods float above the Ocean, droplets of dew against its immensity. Without worship, they perish, snuffed out. Small crumbs of Something draw countless Gods, feeding on eachother and on the life they nourish with their presence. All are doomed to return to the Ocean, but for a time they grow strong and fat, and it is enough. Without Something, the Gods have no hope.

Something new has risen from the foam. Something big. Somewhere. Unmolded, untouched by divine powers, it floats on the Ocean, drawing forth ever more matter with its gravity. Bounty beyond reckoning for any God strong enough to take it. Nothing like this has ever been encountered before - enough Something for dozens of Gods, or hundreds. But not all at once, oh no - it would have to be carefully rationed...

This is my 3rd CYOA that I'm running - it will be fairly fully illustrated and very casual. You should be able to drop in at almost any time and not have missed out on anything - or just lurk in the thread and look at pictures!

# ? Apr 7, 2016 06:08

LordVonEarlDuke: Jun 24, 2011

Ceramic Shot posted:

How do people feel about main character dialogue in CYOA games? I think I've noticed there's a big difference between how the current crop of CYOA writers handle it. I think they're equally valid but accomplish different ends. In the Paradise Lost and Viking games for example, there tended to be relatively little main character speech in the main posts, whereas in Talos and some of the 40k ones there's a bit more banter and less micro-management of what's said. Mutants: Uprising seems to sway between narrative updates and dialogue updates.

I feel like having less main character dialogue is more "immersive" because "what's actually being said" is sort of handled off-screen via player write-in questions and such. They also seem to be more strongly second-person (more "you"). And I guess in the more dialogue-heavy games it feels a bit more fast-paced. I'm wondering what else people think about those approaches.

Also, I've been planning the start of a late antiquity fantasy thing if I ever get the time. Resource recommendations appreciated.

I'm a dramaturg / playwright by trade so I just write a lot of dialogue all the time
Throw enough poo poo at a wall and it sticks, right?

# ? Apr 7, 2016 08:32

Ceramic Shot: Dec 21, 2006; The stars aren't in the right places.

Thanks for the insights, guys. I think it's really interesting how CYOAs have become popular. These kinds of forums seem like an oddly logical place for them to thrive.

# ? Apr 10, 2016 03:29

Loel: Jun 4, 2012; "For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.

Ceramic Shot posted:

Thanks for the insights, guys. I think it's really interesting how CYOAs have become popular. These kinds of forums seem like an oddly logical place for them to thrive.

Supposedly, we started Let's Plays, too

Innovators, that's us

# ? Apr 11, 2016 08:44

Deadmeat5150: Nov 21, 2005; OLD MAN YELLS AT CLAN

Slowbeef was the first real Let's Player.

# ? Apr 11, 2016 16:27

Music Theory: Aug 7, 2013; Avatar by Garden Walker

Now we just need someone to LP a CYOA.

# ? Apr 11, 2016 17:21

Elfface: Nov 14, 2010; Da-na-na-na-na-na-na
IRON JONAH

Pretty sure the Lone Wolf series has been LPed.

# ? Apr 11, 2016 19:13

Tran: Feb 17, 2011; It's a pleasure to meet all of you. Especially in such a fine settin' as this. Just need us some music an' a brawl an' we'll be set.

Many different game books have been.

# ? Apr 12, 2016 04:42

hollylolly: Jun 5, 2009; Do you like superheroes? Check out my CYOA Mutants: Uprising

How about weird historical fiction? Try Vampires of the Caribbean

A Song of Goons and Muder: Noble CYOA

A wild CYOA has appeared!

# ? Apr 25, 2016 17:04

Loel: Jun 4, 2012; "For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.

hollylolly posted:

A Song of Goons and Muder: Noble CYOA

A wild CYOA has appeared!

Woo!

# ? Apr 25, 2016 17:14

hollylolly: Jun 5, 2009; Do you like superheroes? Check out my CYOA Mutants: Uprising

How about weird historical fiction? Try Vampires of the Caribbean

A Song of Goons and Mulder: Noble CYOA/X-Files crossover!

# ? Apr 25, 2016 17:16

Outrail: Jan 4, 2009; www.sapphicrobotica.com

hollylolly posted:

A Song of Goons and Mulder: Noble CYOA/X-Files crossover!

I think you've almost got that covered.

# ? Apr 25, 2016 17:18

mcclay: Jul 8, 2013; Oh dear oh gosh oh darn; Soiled Meat

And I won't abandon this one!

# ? May 5, 2016 19:07

Loel: Jun 4, 2012; "For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.

mcclay posted:

And I won't abandon this one!

Yessss gooood yessss

# ? May 5, 2016 20:21

paragon1: Nov 22, 2010; FULL COMMUNISM NOW

Tree thread has just finished its first major scenario, in which goons have secured spider-peace in our time!

# ? May 9, 2016 01:13

Loel: Jun 4, 2012; "For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.

paragon1 posted:

Tree thread has just finished its first major scenario, in which goons have secured spider-peace in our time!

Keep summer safe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0PuqSMB8uU

# ? May 9, 2016 14:42

Outrail: Jan 4, 2009; www.sapphicrobotica.com

LowellDND posted:

Keep summer safe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0PuqSMB8uU

I hope our little tree is exactly this diligent and compassionate towards the other denizens of the island as we ensure the safety of our charges.

# ? May 9, 2016 17:09

Bee Bonk: Feb 19, 2011

The gang is headed out on their next caper in Outlaws of Thoon. If perpetrating space-crime, flying tiny robots around, or being blown up and drowned beneath an uncaring alien ocean are any of your things, please join us!

# ? May 16, 2016 20:12

mepstein73: Sep 18, 2012; Whether or not you find your own way, you're bound to find some way. If you happen to find my way, please return it, as it was lost years ago. I imagine by now it's quite rusty.

Looks like "Six Stars" has stopped for a few months, sadly.
That said, I'm getting back into "Sangreal" now!

# ? May 20, 2016 04:22

Loel: Jun 4, 2012; "For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.

Moving the complicated voting system back here since its not getting much use

quote:

Complicated answer for advanced players:

The entire vote should be Bold text (select the whole thing, press ctrl- or cmd-b)

Preceded by ##vote

In all cases, individual votes should be preceded by the question number (1, 2, etc)

Primary choice goes first. This must be a letter (A, B, C, D, etc)

Secondary choices should be separated by either a semicolon (;) for rank preference, or a comma (,) for indifference.

Thus, if voting for B primarily, with A and C as secondary options, and D as a tertiary option, you would type:
code:
[b]
##vote
1 b;a,c;d
[/b]
And if you a better idea than any of the listed options, you can do a write in as follows!

Plan [yourname]: Something else - Write in. If you have a write in vote, please vote for Plan [yourname] and then write in the plan under your vote
Finally, anything NOT in bold will not be counted, so keep that in mind when voting.

quote:

Really complicated voting crap for math and polisci geeks:

The Schulze method (/ˈʃʊltsə/) is a voting system developed in 1997 by Markus Schulze that selects a single winner using votes that express preferences. The method can also be used to create a sorted list of winners... The Schulze method is a Condorcet method, which means the following: if there is a candidate who is preferred over every other candidate in pairwise comparisons, then this candidate will be the winner when the Schulze method is applied. The output of the Schulze method (defined below) gives an ordering of candidates. Therefore, if several positions are available, the method can be used for this purpose without modification, by letting the k top-ranked candidates win the k available seats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulze_method

Whats with this voting mechanic? Why all these semicolons??

Ralith posted:

Vote scraper release 0.4.0
Windows 64-bit, OSX (experimental), documentation.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. If anyone's interested in the source code (it's Haskell), get ahold of me on IRC in #madgod

quote:

This is how it works:

Votes inside a post look like this:

##vote
1 A; B, C; D
2 Plan Tran
Bonus C

Votes must be in bold, must contain no blank lines, may not lie inside quotes, and must not be followed by bold text without a blank line or non-bold text in between them. Options omitted from a question are treated as if ranked below the options that are included. Questions that are omitted from a vote indicate that the voter has no preferences for that question.

For question 1, the example voter:

Prefers A over both B and C
Is indifferent between B and C
Prefers A, B, and C over D
Prefers all of the above over anything else
For question 2, the voter prefers "Plan Tran" over anything else

For question "Bonus", the voter prefers C over anything else

If a post contains multiple votes, only the last is considered. If a voter makes multiple votes in different posts, only the most recently given preferences for each question are considered.

Although the format supports voting for multiple options with the same level of preference, this should not be confused with voting for a combination as a single option that might win monolithically. In other words, a vote for "A, B" is not a vote to do both A and B, it is a vote to do either A or B. To vote for a combination, voters should create write-ins, or use singular option names like "A+B", which have no special meaning.

Voters favoring an option that is similar to other options should consider taking advantage of the format to vote for the similar options in addition to but at a lower preference rank than their favored option. This increases the chance that something like their desired option will win, without weakening their vote for their desired option.

Question names

"1", "2", and "Bonus" are question names
Question names are arbitrary text that does not contain white space
A "." or a ":" at the end of a question name is ignored
Question names are case-insensitive

Option names

"A", "B", "C", "D" and "Plan Tran" are option names.
Option names are arbitrary text that does not contain line breaks, "," or ";"
White space surrounding option names is ignored
Option names are case-insensitive

Although option names may be arbitrarily long, the following conventions are recommended:

Avoid long option names. The longer they are, the more likely someone will make typos while entering them, requiring manual cleanup if their vote is to be properly counted.

Write-ins of more than a few words should not be written as options directly. Instead, the author of a write-in should describe their plan in prose of whatever length, and give it a short, unique option name such as "Plan Tran". The write-in author and any other voters so inclined may then vote for the write-in with the short name.

Loel fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Jun 2, 2016

# ? May 26, 2016 07:33

Saint Isaias Boner: Jan 17, 2007; hi how are you ♥

please look in my latest CYOA, it is just taking off. In GBS though, because that's where I usually do these things.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3777741

It's called the Wizard of Warlock Tower and you play as a skeleton gardener who can resurrect dead things. It just started a couple days back and probably has a few weeks in it before it grinds to its conclusion.

# ? May 29, 2016 17:05

Outrail: Jan 4, 2009; www.sapphicrobotica.com

I'm not sure it counts as a forums CYOA if you're just scanning pages out of a lovely book.

e: :thejoke:

of all the times for someone to start taking me seriously...

Outrail fucked around with this message at 18:54 on May 29, 2016

# ? May 29, 2016 17:36

hollylolly: Jun 5, 2009; Do you like superheroes? Check out my CYOA Mutants: Uprising

How about weird historical fiction? Try Vampires of the Caribbean

Outrail posted:

I'm not sure it counts as a forums CYOA if you're just scanning pages out of a lovely book.

He's creating the book himself

# ? May 29, 2016 17:52

Hexenritter: May 20, 2001

Comedy and tragedy in the master post thread!

# ? May 29, 2016 22:46

Lazaruise: Jan 25, 2009

Saw this in the Lets Play forums, its a CYOA murder mystery but its using Fallout 4 and mods. It looks pretty interesting.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3778588

# ? Jun 3, 2016 11:40

ibntumart: Mar 18, 2007; Good, bad. I'm the one with the power of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.; College Slice

Those of you who have run/are running CYOAs based on an RPG, do you have any tips for preparing and running a CYOA? I have a number of adventures I'd like to run in older or more obscure systems... a CYOA might be the chance to finally do so.

# ? Jun 5, 2016 02:10

Loel: Jun 4, 2012; "For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.

ibntumart posted:

Those of you who have run/are running CYOAs based on an RPG, do you have any tips for preparing and running a CYOA? I have a number of adventures I'd like to run in older or more obscure systems... a CYOA might be the chance to finally do so.

I saw you pop in the chatroom briefly, we can go into more detail there :v:

# ? Jun 5, 2016 02:11

ibntumart: Mar 18, 2007; Good, bad. I'm the one with the power of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.; College Slice

Ralith, are you still hosting the Vote Scraper anywhere? I keep getting a 404 error when I download the link.

# ? Jun 6, 2016 00:54

Ralith: Jan 12, 2011; I see a ship in the harbor
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
I'd be a heavenly person today

ibntumart posted:

Ralith, are you still hosting the Vote Scraper anywhere? I keep getting a 404 error when I download the link.

I nuked the directory in a server reformat by accident, and it didn't seem to be getting much attention so I wasn't rushing to put it back up. I'll see about doing so in the next day or two.

# ? Jun 8, 2016 06:00

Ralith: Jan 12, 2011; I see a ship in the harbor
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
I'd be a heavenly person today

Ralith posted:

I nuked the directory in a server reformat by accident, and it didn't seem to be getting much attention so I wasn't rushing to put it back up. I'll see about doing so in the next day or two.

By which I mean right now. 0.4.0 is up again!

I'm not likely to touch the older versions but nobody should want that anyway.

# ? Jun 8, 2016 06:16

Arkanomen: May 6, 2007; All he wants is a hug

Starting a new game of evolutionary telephone.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3779409
Basically voting for a starter world, then I'm going to introduce some simple critters that people can iterate on artistically and evolutionarily.
Give it a look. Its meant to be a casual, fun game of drawing and thinking up little monsters.

# ? Jun 9, 2016 04:45

ibntumart: Mar 18, 2007; Good, bad. I'm the one with the power of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.; College Slice

Ralith posted:

By which I mean right now. 0.4.0 is up again!

I'm not likely to touch the older versions but nobody should want that anyway.

Belated thanks for this! When I finally get around to putting up a CYOA post (hopefully by this weekend---thinking Mutant City Blues now), I'm going to give this a go for sure.

# ? Jun 15, 2016 09:11

ibntumart: Mar 18, 2007; Good, bad. I'm the one with the power of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.; College Slice

So I finally decided to stop hemming and hawing and put up my CYOA already:

Marvel Super Heroes: Let's Burn Through 80s TSR Modules Together!

In a nutshell, I'm going to go through the old Marvel Super Heroes modules I never got a chance to run in the 90s. I'm sure they'll be as awesome as I remember. Definitely.

# ? Jun 22, 2016 13:10

Obscil: Feb 28, 2012; PLEASE LIKE ME!

A new CYOA taking place in Theah has recently been started.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3786462

# ? Aug 14, 2016 17:05

mugrim: Mar 2, 2007; The same eye cannot both look up to heaven and down to earth.

Obscil posted:

A new CYOA taking place in Theah has recently been started.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3786462

Came here to post this. I'll go with your suggestion if no one adds anything soon.

# ? Aug 14, 2016 19:26

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 16, 2024 10:51

potatocubed: Jul 26, 2012; *rathian noises*

This thread has inspired me to give this CYOA business a shot.

Probably A Bad Idea: A Cyberpunk CYOA

# ? Aug 19, 2016 15:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > Choose Your Own "Choose Your Own Adventure Thread" Thread

«‹›12 »